Thermal Monitoring of Drill Bits During Laminate Drilling

Infra‐red thermal monitoring of drill bit temperatures is just coming into use for laminate drilling. Although not yet in production use, the method has been evaluated, with promising results, in the engineering laboratories of four major manufacturers. In addition, it has been used with excellent results as a research tool during studies of interactions between drill wear, drill temperature, compositions of entry and backup materials, hole quality, and other parameters of the drilling process. This paper will outline the principles of infra‐red thermometry and will then discuss the present and the anticipated applications to laminate drilling.